Global Wind-Speed Averages

November 4, 1996

NSCAT will provide regular measurements of ocean surface wind
velocity from space. NSCAT wind measurements cover 90 percent of
the ocean surface each day, achieving nearly 100 percent
coverage within three days. This map shows a global three-day
average of wind speeds over the world's oceans. The continents
appear in black. The uncalibrated data were taken from September
20 to 22, 1996. Color indicates wind speed; in this case, purple
and blue denote low winds, green to yellow indicate moderate
winds and orange to red stand for high winds. An usually
high level of spring storm activity is visible as a broad yellow
region in the southern hemisphere near Antarctica, in an area
sailors refer to as "the roaring forties."